Mr. Robert Malone:

Exactly. If one looks at a large retailer today, they have 18,000 lines in that shop. Therefore, one line will not make or break them, whereas everything that a small local retailer sells is important. Therefore, legislation is required. It does not necessarily have to mean that the consumer has to pay more for a particular product.

However, the cost of production for the farmer must be recognised in whatever is paid back with the wholesale price. That is not happening now and it is why we continuously see fresh produce in particular with fewer growers. It is evident right across the sectors we represent today because they are more closely linked to the retail market. It is evident with 50% of all pig meat sold by retailers and virtually all poultry product sold in domestic retail and some food service. Retail is the biggest part of it. All of our horticulture, except for mushrooms, is sold in the retail trade as our president has outlined.

The commodities dealing with the export market are in beef. They are open to those markets and they are up and down; we are in a high period now. We can see today with high commodity input prices, we have not the response from the retail trade. That is the ultimate issue. We need transparency so we can see clearly who is taking what from the value chain. At least if there is transparency people will have to stand up and be accountable.